Kaiketsu Zubat
, translated into English as Swift Hero Zubat, Extraordinary Zubat or Vigilante Zubat, is a tokusatsu superhero series that on TV Tokyo in 1977. Created by Shotaro Ishinomori, this 32-episode series harkens back to tokusatsu superhero shows of the 1950s, but with a late-70s twist. The series was released on DVD in 2008. Story This series is popular with fans of Ishinomori, and unique as the titular hero Zubat does not "henshin" like the other superheroes he created. Ken Hayakawa (Hiroshi Miyauchi), a private detective dressed in black & red gringo cowboy attire, actually just puts on his red & black "Zvasuit" (hidden in his white guitar, which is opened with the push of a button), which looks no different from that of a Sentai hero: *A helmet with "Z"-themed features and an open/close visor and mouthpiece *A streamlined rubber jumpsuit with a white scarf (another Ishinomori trademark). The villains are also unusual as they are not monsters. Instead, it is a criminal syndicate known as Dakker, which has a mysterious leader (who is revealed in the final episode), and outlandishly-dressed criminals. Early episodes of this series even had a bizarre Japanese "wild west" setting. An episode would generally have a single head criminal, and a yojinbo, somehow terrorizing a group of people. Hayakawa Ken would happen upon this, and meet the yojinbo, which would lead to a demonstration of the latter's preferred skill, only for Hayakawa Ken to show that he was much better. Characters Allies *Goro Asuka (1) *Midori Asuka *Osamu Terada *Shingo Tojo The Consortium of Evil, Dakker *Boss L Episodes *Episode 1: After the Explosion, the Wandering Begins *Episode 2: The Bird Migrates into Flames *Episode 3: The Golden Angel of Sorrow *Episode 4: A Critical Strike, Through Tears *Episode 5: The Flower Girl and the White Powder *Episode 6: Machine Guns Over the Ocean's Roar *Episode 7: A Bad Wind in a Harbor Town *Episode 8: Propane Explosion of Sorrow *Episode 9: Turn Back to the River of Tears *Episode 10: Knock Baseball's Enemies Out of the Park *Episode 11: Don't Die, Dear Friend! One Second to Execution! *Episode 12: Ten Seconds to Execution *Episode 13: The Ballad of the Young Killer *Episode 14: White-Fletched Arrows and a Tearful Parting *Episode 15: The Sad Mother's Lullaby *Episode 16: Falsely Accused, Ken Falls into Sorrow *Episode 17: The Grief-Stricken Sister and a Pair of Kens *Episode 18: Bubble Love in Peril! *Episode 19: Blighted Love: The Torn Love Letter *Episode 20: The Lady Dragon and a Tearful Vow *Episode 21: Farewell, My Long-Lost Mother *Episode 22: The Young Boxer and Tears for a Father *Episode 23: The Three Oogami Sisters and Brother Tenichi *Episode 24: Ken's Tears and Love in a Strange Town *Episode 25: A Tearful Departure on Mt. Koujin *Episode 26: Forgive Me, My Son! *Episode 27 *Episode 28 *Episode 29 *Episode 30 *Episode 31 *Episode 32 Notes *This series would be parodied by Daicon Films (now Gainax) in 1982, in a series of short films starring the superhero Swift Hero Noutenki (who also has the same alter-ego, Ken Hayakawa). *Zubat's name is based on the sound effect "zubatto," which is the sound of something being hit right on target. External links *[http://web.archive.org/web/20080101230128/http://incolor.inetnebr.com/stuart/zubat/ Kaiketsu Zubat] English language fan page *Zubaken - Japanese language fan page *Zubat (Japanese) *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159170/ Kaiketsu Zubat at the Internet Movie Database]